The big show for the weekend was the Black Box competition hosted and run by Chef Ray Bear. It featured five Chefs from Nova Scotia, two from Ontario and one from New Brunswick. Check out their bios. On the weekend of June 27th and 28th, the Cunard Centre hosted CATCH: The Nova Scotia Seafood Festival. The event featured local seafood, Chefs from great local restaurants giving demos, live music, a few celebrities (Anna Olsen from the Food Network and Chef Stefan Czapalay),and a lot of tasty food. Not to mention the competitions and the competitors. For starters, there was an oyster shucking competition. Two of my friends were in the competition - Chef Matt Costain of the Press Gang and Aaron Dawson of Little Fish.
(Throughout the weekend, I got to participate in the action by assisting the Chefs during their competitions. I assisted in four battles working twice with Chef Nitin Mehra, as well as Chef Andrew Stevens and Chef Tom Malycha. The Black Box items were given to the Chefs 15 minutes before the start of the battle and had a wide range of pantry and produce items. Each Chef was allowed to bring in two of their own special ingredients to add their own personal touch to their plates. Some of the special ingredients the Chefs brought in were Black Garlic, Truffle Oil, Prosciutto, Edible flowers, and some unique Indian spices that I got a chance to work with. The Black Box Items were all local seafood and included Arctic Char, Baby Halibut, Sea Cucumber, Oysters, Scallops, Smoked Eel, Mussels, Squid, and Live Lobster!
Chef Bee Choo and Jane Phillips
Photos from CATCH Facebook Gallery
All seven competitions were judged by Andy Murdoch, Food Editor from The Coast, Nadine Spencer from the Indulgent Foodie, and Chef Stefan Czapalay who brought his Salts of the World collection for the competing Chefs to use. We got what was left over to take back to the restaurant. 12 different finishing salts like Himalayan Pink Salt and Black Lava Salt, and Salt from the Dead Sea, all which add a great finishing touch to the fresh seafood that Nova Scotia has to offer.
The Judges: (l-r) Stefan Czapalay, Andy Murdoch and Nadine Spencer
Photos from CATCH Facebook Gallery
By the end of the weekend, the eight Chefs had created 28 unique and very creative dishes on the fly, in a less than forgiving makeshift kitchen, in front of a very hungry live audience and under some really bright lights. All of the dishes were great successes. But only one Chef could come out on top to take the bragging rights, the $5000 cash, $5000 Air Canada money and $1000 of Spirit of Hospitality Chinaware. After the competition was over, I had a chance to speak with one of the judges, Chef Stefan Czapalay, and he said that Andrew was very consistent throughout his three battles to the top. He said that in the final, Andrew had the fire in him that he needed to win. It was a great experience for me all around; I met some great Chefs, learned some new techniques and got a good chance to see what the world of competition cooking is about… and I’m very intrigued… + CATCH web site ---
That Chef was Andrew Stevens of Little Louis’ Restaurant, Moncton NB who squeaked out the win. It was a close battle with Chef Bee Choo of Gio who was the local favourite, but Andrew brought the big guns and made instant sorbet with liquid Nitrogen! I had the opportunity to work with him in the first round where he did a great marinated scallop “Ceviche” dish with a dulse salad. It was fresh and tasted like the sea… perfect for his first dish of the competition.
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